


Find a New Home

by GodricSalzaar16



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Declarations Of Love, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Poetry, M/M, Miscommunication, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Poetry, Requited Love, Sad with a Happy Ending, ThiamHalfBirthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 01:26:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14966117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodricSalzaar16/pseuds/GodricSalzaar16
Summary: being alone was never hardTheo's been gone for months, off to find himself - to find a new pack - and he left Liam behind in the dust.He doesn't care. (he doesn't)That is until some old friends come back to town with some new - old - additions.





	Find a New Home

 

> **_The moon split in half_ **

> **_and the stars crumbled_ **

> **_falling like fireworks_ **

> **_into the sea_ **

> **_I watched my world_ **

> **_fall apart the day_ **

> **_my love left me_ **

> * * *

"So you're leaving then?" Liam asked, not looking up.

"Yeah," Theo said, but it sounded like he wanted to say more. He never did.

Liam sighed and turned away. He heard rustling behind him, and the sound of his bedroom window sliding open.

“Where are you going?” Liam asked, barely audible, but shattering the blanket of silence in the room.

“Anywhere,” Theo said. A pause. “Or nowhere.”

“Are you coming back?”

That was the question. For so long he was too afraid to ask. He didn’t want an answer.

He _needed_ one.

“I don’t know,” Theo said. Liam knew it was the truth.

How frightening to hear the truth from a lying devil. A devil with an angel’s face.

“Okay,” was all he said.

What more was there to say?

Nothing.

Nothing that could make him stay anyway.

Another pause. A longer one. It hinged on the edge of a chasm, the chasm growing wider and deeper and darker between them.

“Okay,” Theo breathed.

Liam didn’t turn around. Theo didn’t say anything more.

A sigh. More rustling. A hand on his shoulder – a long squeeze. Footsteps. His window slid shut.

He let out a long breath and closed his eyes. His heart thudded against his sternum, steady and aching. He sniffed, buried his face in his pillow for a few seconds.

He got up, forcing his body to move. He stopped at the window sill and stared out.

He could hear Theo’s truck, still idling in his Liam’s driveway. He stared at the chipped, sky-blue paint.

The truck pulled away and disappeared into the night.

Liam slid the lock closed on his window. More harshly than he intended.

It broke.

He stared down at the broken piece in his hand.

It didn’t matter.

He wouldn’t need to open it again anyway.

 

*

 

> **_My heart sinks_ **
> 
> **_as I watch the sun_ **
> 
> **_slip into the sea._ **
> 
> **_Another day_ **
> 
> **_lost in the waves_ **
> 
> **_without my love_ **
> 
> **_here with me_ **
> 
> * * *
> 
>  

He met a lot of people. But he never fell in love.

He had a lot of sex. But he never fell in love.

Liam wasn't sure he knew how to love. He didn't know if he even wanted to.

He still had the devil's smirk in his mind.

Right next to the angel's smile.

Mason pretended he didn’t know why. Corey wasn’t the least bit subtle.

“You’re going to have to let go of him someday. You know that right?” Corey asked one night when Mason was already snoring, as the blue screen of the television washed over them.

“He’s already gone, Corey. Has been for a long time,” Liam said.

But he knew what Corey meant.

“Yeah. And yet he’s still here, isn’t he?” Corey asked, knowing the answer. Everyone knew the answer.

Liam didn’t say anything back.

Corey sighed and turned his attention back to the movie.

Liam pretended he didn’t ache. All the time. He pretended there wasn’t some unexplainable void within his soul.

He was good at that – pretending. Maybe he did it because Theo would be proud.

( ~~Maybe if he was proud, he’d come back~~ )

It was unfair really. There had been many beautiful girls and beautiful boys.

But he never thought of anything past the pleasure of bodies.

His heart was never in it.

He’d say he didn’t have a heart, but that would be a lie.

He just wished he didn’t.

Like he said – it wasn’t fair.

He compared all the beautiful girls and beautiful boys to someone who hadn’t even touch him.

Pathetic.

He closed his eyes and willed the demon away.

*

 

> **_Thinking of you is a poison I drink often_ **
> 
> * * *
> 
> ****

He doesn't think of Theo often. 

( ~~lie~~ )

 He doesn't wonder about where he is or what he's doing. 

( ~~another lie~~ )

He definitely doesn't wonder about who he's with. 

( ~~the biggest lie of all~~ )

Mason and Corey like to tip-toe around him. 

It's ridiculous. 

It's been years. 

Years - and Liam still aches. 

He aches less. Or he thinks he does. Some days are worse than others. 

On the good ( ~~bad~~ ) days, Liam can hear Theo's laugh. 

On the bad ( ~~good~~ ) days, Liam finds himself forgetting the colour of Theo's eyes. 

On the good days, Liam falls asleep to the sound of his voice. 

On the bad days, Liam thinks of him and curses his very existence. 

He doesn't want to think about Theo. 

\- yes, he does. 

"It's not good for you," Mason said when he had been drunk and bold. 

"You'll make yourself sick," Corey parroted. 

Liam should listen to them. He knows he should.

But thinking of Theo was liquid, sweet-smelling, addictive _poison_.

It clung to his taste-buds. It fell down his throat smooth and warm – liquid gold coloured black. It warmed him.

It lessened the ache.

It worsened it too.

But he still drank it – every morning, every night.

He didn’t stop.

He didn’t know how.

He didn’t want to know how.

He choked on it. Guzzled it down. Drowned in the memories.

There weren’t many, but they were so vivid.

He closed his eyes at night and they were there, welcoming with open arms.

They always drifted away when the sun rose.

Theo’s name clung to his parted lips.

But no one had to know that.

So he drank his poison and kept it to himself.

*

 

> **_No one else_ **
> 
> **_left me needing them_ **
> 
> **_the way you do_ **
> 
> * * *
> 
>  

 

The day Liam goes back to Beacon Hills, he doesn’t know what to expect.

Everything still looks the same. Even the people.

Beacon Hills really did exist in some phantom zone, didn’t it?

He stops by the hospital to say a quick hello to Melissa – who went by Mrs Argent these days. She gave him a long, tearful hug and kissed his temple.

“It’s so good to have you home,” she said, caressing his cheek with his thumb.

He was taller than her now.

_It’s good to be home._

He couldn’t force the words out. Not when he didn’t mean them.

So instead he smiled and said, “It’s good to see you.”

She gave him Scott’s new address. It was a small, secluded house near the preserve. Liam found it ironic that Scott was becoming more like Derek by the day.

  
From what Liam knew, Scott and Lydia were the only ones who returned to Beacon Hills for good. Malia came and went as she pleased, a hurtling wind that tossed up everything and left it in disarray when she left. Stiles came back to town as often as he could between jobs. He really was in his element at the FBI. Liam was happy for him.

As for Derek, Scott told Liam he disappeared a few months back. Here one minute, gone the next. But he sent texts, sparse as they were. No one had any idea where he was or what he was doing, but this was Derek. Mysterious and aloof was his forte.

He walked up to Scott’s door, hesitant to knock.

Scott was still his alpha. They still communicated often enough. But something felt different. Maybe it was too much distance in the last three years.

“Liam,” Scott said.

His smile was wide and warm. He was like sunshine and puppies and everything soft and good. Liam was glad to see that hadn’t changed in his time away.

“Hey,” Liam said, returning the smile with ease.

Scott ushered him inside, clapping a hand on his back and steered him to the living room.

The house wasn’t very big, but it was just right for Scott.

He lived alone – he broke up with Malia a while ago, dated a few other people since then, but it never worked out – so he didn’t really need much.

They drank coffee together as Scott asked all about Liam’s time at college. When they were on their second cup, Liam asked about the new members of the pack.

“You seem different,” Scott remarked, and Liam stopped moving, cup halfway to his lips.

“What – less angry?” Liam asked, a small smile on his lips.

Scott snorted.

“Yes. But I didn’t mean that,” Scott said.

Liam tried to ignore the question.

“Did something happen?” Scott asked, tentatively.

Liam frowned.

“No.”

“You know – I’m no stranger to heartbreak,” Scott said.

Nothing in his tone was mocking.

Liam also knew this was true.

It still set him on edge.

“What are you saying?” Liam asked.

He wasn’t playing dumb.

He really wanted to know.

“I’m saying,” Scott hesitated. Liam waited.

“Heartbreak clings to you like a second skin.”

“I guess I just don’t know how to let it go,” Liam said.

Scott nodded.

Liam knew he could understand that too.

So they drank their coffee and talked about trivial things. Liam laughed and smiled. It was nice.

A week later, Liam moved in with Scott.

He loved his parents – and they were more than happy to let him stay – but he couldn’t go back to his room.

There was a broken piece of metal digging into his skin at his back pocket. A piece of the window sill lock in his room.

He couldn’t bear to throw it away.

*

 

> **_worlds change_ **
> 
> **_when eyes_ **
> 
> **_meet_ **
> 
> * * *
> 
>  

"Scott?" Liam asked, blinking his eyes open against the sunlight peeking in through the curtains. 

Scott was moving around the house in a frenzy, throwing on clothes and pulling on shoes. His hair was a mess and sleep still clung to him. 

"What's wrong?" Liam asked, pulling himself up.

Scott barely cast him a glance. 

"Derek's back," Scott said. 

"Keys are over there," Liam pointed to the bowl by the door. 

"Thanks," Scott said, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door. 

"Wait, I'm coming with you," Liam said, swinging his feet to the ground and searching for his shoes. 

They drove together. 

They stopped at the edge of the woods. 

Derek was already waiting for them. 

"Hey man," Scott said as he threw himself at his friend. 

They embraced and Derek gave Liam a tight-lipped smile when they pulled away. 

Then Liam took a long breath. 

He stumbled back, eyes widening. All his senses were on high alert, his hairs standing on end. 

"What the fuck," he muttered. 

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Derek started. He almost sounded sheepish. 

 

Derek was an alpha. Red eyes and all. 

Apparently, when he disappeared, he'd been tracking down a pack of rogues. He killed their leader and became an alpha. He killed the rest of the rogues as well. And then he went in search of a pack. 

And now he was back. 

With his pack. 

"I didn't want to just show up and make you suspicious," Derek said, leading them to the edge of town. That's where his pack was waiting for them. 

Liam followed silently. 

He smelt them first. Immediately setting off alarm bells in his head. 

"This is my pack," Derek said. 

Scott inhaled sharply. 

A boy with brown-blonde, curly hair smirked. He was tall and slim, but Liam could see the muscle on him. His eyes were bright and lively, the colour of the sky and the ocean. They stared directly at Scott. 

" _Isaac_ ," Scott breathed, lurching forward and dragging the other man into a hug. The man - Isaac - went more than willingly. 

Liam raised his eyebrows at Derek, but Derek just rolled his eyes and shook his head. 

Liam barely paid attention to the rest of the introductions. Derek's pack was a made up of a range of people, some teenagers, some older. There were three girls and two boys, besides Isaac. Ava - dark skinned and curly haired - reminded him of Malia. Daniela - a tiny, Hispanic girl, with dyed pink hair - smiled at him brightly. Juan and Mai were twins, both only seventeen and wide-eyed. Then there was Callum - a tall, broad man, with a buzzcut and light brown skin - and of course, Isaac. 

"Is this everyone?" Scott asked. 

They all seemed enamoured with Scott. 

Liam couldn't blame them. 

"Not exactly."

It was the scent that caught Liam off guard. 

For a second he thought he was still asleep. Still dreaming. Because that was the only thing that made sense. 

Because no matter what else faded in memory, the scent never did. 

He stepped out from the trees. 

Liam's heart stopped. 

He looked better. Older. Taller. Even better looking. (Liam hadn't thought that last part could even be possible). 

Liam's heart dropped to his stomach and clenched painfully. 

He hadn't seen Liam yet. 

Scott turned his gaze to Liam, eyes wide and all too knowing. 

Then he lifted his gaze. 

 _Fuck_ , his eyes were still startlingly blue. Electric, sending shocks up and down Liam's spine. 

" _Liam_ ," he breathed, in the same way, Scott had said 'Isaac.'

Liam inhaled. 

Exhaled. 

"Theo."

And then he turned and walked away. 

*

 

> **_I love hard_ **
> 
> **_and I break_ **
> 
> _**just as hard as I love**  _
> 
> * * *
> 
>  

 

"So you're Liam," Juan said, and Liam raised an eyebrow. 

They were all at Melissa's house. Technically it was Melissa and Argent's house. They had moved to a bigger house, three storeys high with no shortage of rooms and way better water pressure than him and Scott. 

"I think so. I don't know these days," Liam said, only half joking.

Juan looked at him intensely, his gaze cutting straight through Liam.

“Theo talks about you a lot,” Juan said, and Liam stopped breathing.

He forced himself to inhale.

It Theo said anything, it was probably complaints and mocking.

Liam didn’t dare get his hopes up.

“I doubt that,” Liam said, standing and moving to the kitchen.

Juan followed.

“I’m serious,” Juan said, and Liam stopped.

He sighed.

Liam placed his hands on the counter and gripped the marble. His claws were out, but he wasn’t angry. He didn’t know what he was.

"I think I know more about you than you would like,” he almost sounded amused by that.

“Yeah, I’m sure he has a lot of shit to say,” Liam said, shaking his head and trying to move away.

“Not like that – just _listen_ –”

Liam wheeled around, eyes flaring hot and bright as anger reared its ugly head. Juan took a step back, hands up in surrender. He was so young. Liam remembered being that young. And stubborn.

“I’m sorry,” Liam said, forcing himself to calm down.

“No, it’s – Theo told me not to piss you off. He said it would get ugly,” Juan admitted and Liam snorted.

“Yeah, no shit,” Liam said.

“I just meant,” Juan said, and bit his lip. Liam waited.

“Theo likes to talk, you know? And most of the time everything that comes out of his mouth is bullshit,” Liam snorted again, “and for the first few months – hell, the entire first year – he didn’t mention you.”

_Oh._

“But then it changed. He got shit-faced and told us _everything._ Dude was pathetic. After that, he didn’t shy away from us anymore. Told us all about you,” Juan said, and there was something in his tone at the end.

Something almost suggestive.

Before Juan could say any more, Theo appeared in the doorway. He was looking at Juan with a glare. Juan smiled at him, cocky and familiar – in a way that must have infuriated Theo – and walked away.

Liam watched Juan walk away.

“Liam –”

“We need to talk,” Liam said.

Theo shut his mouth, teeth clicking together harshly.

“Yeah. We do.”

* 

 

> **_you are the love that came without warning_ **
> 
> **_you had my heart before I could say no_ **
> 
> * * *
> 
>  

"So... how have you been?" Theo asked, his eyes wide and hopeful. 

They were sitting on the backyard patio. 

Liam gave him a flat look. 

"Sorry," Theo murmured, casting his eyes downward. 

He rubbed at the back of his neck, awkward and unsure. 

Liam had never seen him like this. 

The Theo in his mind was always confident, cocky and sure of himself. He spewed lies as sweet as honey in a voice like chocolate. 

This Theo was none of those things. 

He was so real it was almost too much. 

Liam loved him even more. 

"I missed you," Theo said, in a show of his old confidence. 

Maybe it was still there, but just gone for the moment. 

"Huh," Liam said. 

"Didn't think you would. Seeing as you left."

" _Liam._ You knew I couldn't stay. Not back then," Theo said. 

His body was fully turned to face Liam now. He radiated warmth and it took all of Liam's strength not to fall into him and drown. 

"You left," Liam said softly. 

"It wasn't like that -"

"You left  _me_ ," Liam said, louder, fiercer this time. 

He felt raw. The wound in his chest had to be visible now. Open and gaping. Bleeding. He laid bare, ready for Theo to examine. 

"I had to," Theo said. 

"I know," Liam whispered. He closed his eyes and turned further away from Theo. 

"God, it's been four years and it still aches, Theo," Liam said, his voice hoarse. 

Strong hands grasped his shoulders, pulling him close. 

He didn't bother trying to pull away. 

"You know I thought about you every day? From the night I left until now. There was no stopping it. Always you," Theo whispered in his ear. 

Liam made a wounded noise, curling in on himself. 

"Come on, you have to know..." Theo said. 

" _Theo_ ," Liam breathed out, long and croaked. Something inside him shattered. 

Theo picked up the pieces and placed them back together. 

He mouthed the words against the skin at Liam's neck. 

Lovingly. 

The ache within Liam changed into something else entirely. 

_I love you_

And when Liam turned, grasped Theo's face in his hands and kissed him for all his life was worth

\- they both knew what it meant. 

_I love you too._

 

 

> **_Fire lived within his kiss_ **
> 
> **_he had a way of melting every part of me_ **
> 
> * * *
> 
>  
> 
>  

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
